In Sensational Spider-Man #33, Peter Parker/Spider-Man recuperates from the wounds received during his battle with the Rhino, with a little help from Aunt May and Mary Jane. In another part of town, Felicia Hardy, a.k.a. the Black Cat, hears about Spider-Man's beating at the hands of the Rhino and decides – with the help of her boyfriend, Thomas Fireheart, a.k.a. Puma – to go out in search of the Rhino.

In Sensational Spider-Man #34, while Spider-Man meets with the anti-registration team led by Captain America, Felicia Hardy (and the Puma) finds the Rhino and rather than engaging him into battle, she manages to convince him to go home and forget about the money the Chameleon owes him (see previous issues for further details).

ACT 1: It is three o'clock in the morning in New York City but not everyone is asleep. On the rooftop of a building, a cloaked man is trying to break into the building via the rooftop access. As he struggles to pick the lock, Spider-Man – wearing his red and blue costume – shows up and catches him right in the act. Unfortunately for Spidey, the whole thing is a set up and the robber is in fact an undercover cop. Within seconds, he is surrounded by dozens of cops armed to the teeth and is ordered to stand down. Surprisingly, Spidey gives himself up. As the lead detective walks him off the rooftop, Spidey tells him to take his mask off for him (since his hands are handcuffed). The detective replies that everyone knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man so he fails to see why having it on or off matters, but he complies to his request and pulls the mask off. In a surprising twist of events, the man behind the mask is not Peter Parker; his name is Ethan Myers.

ACT 2: Later at the police precinct, Ethan explains how he acquired his spider-like powers. He was out for a walk when a stranger drove up to him and offered to make him into a hero. He foolishly got into the car and within seconds he was out like a light. When he woke up, an IV was hooked into his arms and the man who had abducted him told him that he was beginning to evolve. As a matter of fact, days later, he started to be able to do things, such as climbing walls. This went on for approximately three weeks. All this time, Ethan did not know where he was being kept. During this time, the man talked to him through an intercom and told him he could be Spider-Man; so Ethan was not that scared. One morning, when he woke up, he found a Spider-Man costume on his bed, and the man told him to go out that night to give it a try. Then he was once again knocked out and woke up earlier that night on a rooftop, wearing the costume, so he decided to play Spider-Man and bust some heads. He simply wanted to see what it would feel like, though he did not have the webs. The detective asks Ethan if he has any clue as to the identity of his benefactor. Ethan replies that he does not and comments that, as far as he is concerned, his benefactor was decent to him and made him stronger and better. The detective tells Ethan that they are trying to reach his folks back in Cincinnati so he will be taken back to his cell so he can get some sleep and then they will go over his story once again in the morning.

ACT 3: Having heard on the news about someone impersonating him, the real Spider-Man heads over to the jail where Ethan Myers is being held so he can talk to Ethan and figure out who did this to him. Based on a tip from Detective Lamont (great continuity here), Spidey heads right over to Ethan's prison window and calls out his name through the steel bars. Ethan, who is asleep, mutters the words "help" and "hurts so much". Realizing that Ethan is in trouble, Spidey does not hesitate one second to tear the whole window off. He then shoots his webs and snags the covers off Ethan, revealing a grotesque creature wrapped around his waist. Spidey obviously wants to help but is not sure what he is supposed to do. Realizing that Ethan needs immediate medical assistance, Spidey makes an executive decision to break him out of his cell. Inside the monitoring station, prison guards become aware of Spidey being in Ethan's cell so they race over there to apprehend him. When they reach the cell in question, they tell Spidey to put Ethan down or else they will shoot. Spidey knows they won't shoot – based on the intensity of his built-in spider-sense – and he tells them that he is taking Ethan to the Metro-General Hospital, so he would like if they could call ahead as well as call Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four.

ACT 4: Twenty-five minutes later, at Metro-General Hospital, cops have taken over the building, hoping to capture Spider-Man when he drops Ethan off. They are also waiting for Mr. Fantastic who is apparently on his way. What they are not aware of is that on a rooftop two buildings down from the hospital is Reed Richards and a nurse-friend of his, who have agreed to meet with Spider-Man there, because Spidey figured out the police would be setting up a trap for him back at the hospital (Note to those who have followed the Civil War miniseries – it is revealed that a hero-friend of Reed died but his or her identity is kept secret due to shipping delays). Spider-Man finally arrives and hands Ethan over to Reed and the nurse and tells them to find out what has happened to him. He then takes off into the night.

ACT 5: Spidey heads over to Dr. Curt Connors laboratory to see if the one-armed doctor can analyze the fluids on the blanket Spidey used to wrap Ethan while he transported him to the hospital. Dr. Connors agrees to help Spidey because if there is one thing he is familiar with its monsters (Dr. Connors is also known as the Lizard). With that said, Spidey takes his leave.

ACT 6: In another part of the city, a man dressed in a red and blue Spider-Man costume is swinging from a rope, excited to be doing so. Unfortunately, he does not make it to a nearby ledge and falls to his death, in front of a bunch of bystanders. When his mask is removed, it is revealed that it is not the real Spider-Man because the man is Asian.

ACT 6: A teenager named Jordan Harrison and his girlfriend Madeline (they are both students of Peter Parker – see Sensational Spider-Man #28) are out walking when a car drives up to them and a stranger inside the car calls out to Jordan and tells him to get into the car. Jordan tells the man in the car that he is crazy to think he is going anywhere with him. The man in the car sighs and tells Jordan that he has already killed his mother and that he will kill his girlfriend if he does not get in the car right away. The man is revealed to be none other than Dr. Calvin Zabo, also known as Mr. Hyde.

To be continued.